1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a door shell of a motor vehicle, in which the door shell includes a door housing connected to a window frame consisting of a profile.
2. Description of Related Art
Door shells for motor vehicles are manufactured in accordance with their basic design in the form of frame doors or stamped doors.
One substantial part of the frame door is the door framework which comprises the door housing located under the window opening and the window frame connected to said door housing, and which is covered with the outer panel to form the finished door after the installation of the window pane, the window frame of the door framework forms the guides for the window pane to slide up and down this and for the window winding mechanism along an inside lining thereof. The door housing of such frame doors consists of lateral end parts which, for reasons of simplicity, are designated at the front motor vehicle door as the A-pillar or hinge plate (on the hinge side) and as the B-pillar or lock plate (on the lock side) because they are adjacent to the A and B pillars of the body shell. The A and B pillars are connected below the window opening by a carrier, preferably a hollow carrier consisting of a profile, forming a window channel reinforcement and on the floor side by a sheet blank or a profile.
If vehicle doors need to be manufactured in very large numbers, stamped doors whose frameworks consist of stamped, integrally formed semi-monocoques are economic.
Frame doors of the type first described are known, for example, from DE 40 27 449 A1 and DE 43 31 616 A1. In these, the window frame consists of extrusion profiles or of profiles made by roll forming which are connected to the A and B pillars (consisting of sheet blanks) of the door housing. With such frame doors, the profile forming the window frame is exposed to the greatest stresses and bending strains in the region of the opening of the profile legs into the door housing or in the connection region of the ends of the profile with the A and B pillars. For this reason, it is necessary to design the cross-section of the profile forming the window frame to accommodate the regions exposed to the greatest stress. Due to its constant cross-section, the profile is oversized in the upper region near the roof.